Another Week! MMmmmm...

Hello Family and All!

This week was fun! And hot! And sweaty! Mainly fun though :) Ok, so we've been tracting and been finding a lot of people to talk to and a few to teach. We have a family that we're teaching that we found while tracting when I first got to the mission. It's a young Army guy, his wife, and their 13-month-old son (who loves to grab/take/steal anything and everything we have when we come over, so he's fun to have around). Haha yeah, so they read 3 Nephi 11 and prayed about it like we had challenged them to do last week and they did it! They weren't sure if they had received and answer or not, so we talked a little bit about what it feels like when the Spirit gives us an answer. Elder Jackson whipped out a cool scripture (Galatians 5:22-23) about the fruits of the Spirit. So that was cool! And then we taught them the Plan of Salvation last night. They really liked how it was all broken down and whatnot. They said, "People have tried to explain all that kind of stuff, but they couldn't break it down like that." We "soft committed" them to baptism ("If you get an answer to your prayer and know what we're teaching is true, will you get baptized into our church?" something like that) and they accepted, so it's not official per se, but they're getting there!

Let's see... it's consistently 105, 106 degrees outside, so we get our daily detox everyday as we ride our bikes and tract. It's not too bad!

Speaking of bikes, I've become the "go to bike repair guy" in the mission. I've been working on my companion's bike a lot (hooray for flats!) and it's been fun to adjust our bikes and fine tune them. They're our only mode of transportation besides walking, so it's important that it's all working and working well and whatnot. Terry's Bicycle Shop (the local bike shop up the road) is now one of our favorite places. Anyway, bikes are fun :)

So to answer a few questions from my faithful readers, there are probably some interesting historical sites here, but I don't know of any yet. It doesn't really feel like the "South" down here. Some people have accents, but they aren't very heavy (most of the time). People here are genuine (no "Hey-ya, buddy! How are ya?!" kind of keeping up appearances) so I really really really like that. Even when they tell us frankly that they're a member of another church and they aren't going to change, they're genuine and respectful, so I look up to the people in general for that.

Yesterday we had dinner at a member's house (PS Last Friday, I had THE BEST ribs I have EVER had in my life! God bless America!!!). They're a young couple and the husband reminds me of Jerry Lewis. Anyway, he has a garden and told us this story:

"I was back in my garden a while back and I saw this little green ball that was growing there, so I thought, 'Oh! A cucumber!' Then it grew a little bit and I thought, 'A squash!!' Then it got even bigger and had little lines and designs and I thought, 'A WATERMELON!' Then it turned orange. A pumpkin. PSH!"

Hahahaha he was so excited during all of it and then he reached the pumpkin part and had a disappointed face. Hahahahaha it was so funny!!! It may have been one of those "you had to be there" kind of moments, but Elder Jackson and I laughed really hard. Hahahaha it's still funny!!!

OH! Here's a good story! We had one of those "An Evening with a General Authority" firesides last Saturday. Elder Stephen (maybe Steven?) L. Fluckiger of the Seventy spoke, as well as President and Sister Taylor. It was all about how we can stengthen families. One of the key things that each of them hit on was saying, "I love you" everyday to each family member, especially those who are having a rough life at the time. They all testified that doing that alone will help resolve many problems in family life. They added their testimonies to Elder Bednar's from his October 2009 General Conference talk, "More Diligent and Concerned at Home." So tell people you love them!

After the fireside, Elder Fluckiger was talking with some Sisters who had brought an investigator with them. He talked to the investigator a little bit and then asked, "So when are you going to be baptized?" The investigator responded, "I don't know." Elder Fluckiger replied, "How about next week?" "Sounds good!" Talk about bold! Haha it was awesome! I'm going to be more bold in everything now. We have the truth, we know it's the truth, and we know people need it. If they're receptive (or even if we're just talking with them at their door) might as well be bold! Of course, we'll let the Spirit guide too :)

Anyway, that's all for this week. I'll try to remember weird/crazy/funny/odd/happy/interesting stories that I can tell all of you next week. I love all of you and thanks for your thoughts and prayers in my behalf! Have a fantastic day! :)

Love,
Elder Woolley